City: Bengaluru

When the Centre refused to allow the state government to procure rice from the Food Corporation of India, the Anna Bhagya scheme appeared to be in danger. As a solution, the Congress-led state government reduced the amount of food grains supplied through ration shops and initiated cash transfers in lieu of the remaining rice. As per the revamped Anna Bhagya scheme, recipients would now get 3 kgs of rice, 2 kgs of ragi and Rs 170 per person on the ration card. Each household can now get a maximum of 21 kgs of rice and 9 kgs of ragi. In…

City soars with ISRO A new video of Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 Rover ramping down from the Lander to the Lunar surface, as well as a photo of the moon’s surface, were released on August 24th. Hundreds of Bengalurians celebrated ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 completion of soft landing on the moon's south pole. There were jubilant screenings and scientific commentaries at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Indian Institute of Astrophysics campus, Century Club at Ambedkar Veedhi and Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM). A special screening at the Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Park in ISRO Layout had many former…

As designers at The Other Design Studio, we have collaborated with various NGOs, including Akshara Foundation, Pratham Books, Azad India Foundation, Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies Foundation, and numerous others for almost two decades. Through this work, we have gained a profound understanding of the social system. Angeline Pradhan and Upesh Pradhan run The Other Design Studio, which does branding to illustration to animation and videos. They have covered everything and a little more as a design studio. In 2022, our design experience with Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar, a collection of over a decade of articles, interviews, and speeches by Rohini Nilekani, inspired…

In a little over a year, the BBMP has conducted yet another ward delimitation exercise. In June 2022, the civic body announced that Bengaluru would have 243 wards. On August 18th this year, close to midnight, the civic body announced a fresh delimitation exercise that has yielded 225 wards for the city. What are the major changes in the city’s ward boundaries and how can you, the citizen, engage with these changes? Timeline of events Delimitation is an exercise conducted to redraw ward boundaries and account for the change in ward population over time. This is done to ensure proportional…

The Karnataka 2023-24 budget must be examined through the lens of the Congress party's welfare and policy promises. They gave several assurances towards making 'public works' more accessible, particularly in Bengaluru. Towards this end, a section titled 'Sector 4: Comprehensive Development of Bengaluru' was added to the budget document. In this article, I analyse to what extent these developmental initiatives align with the needs of the urban poor. I also highlight the missed opportunities and inadequate measures within the budget and how it fails to address the complexities of Bengaluru’s urban crisis. Read more: Hundreds of crores of SWM budget…

When the Congress party came to power in May 2023, Priya* was excited. The domestic worker from North Bengaluru says she understands little about politics, but she knew about the five guarantees. Nearly four months after its victory, the state government is celebrating the fulfilment of at least four of the five guarantees. Priya, however, has mixed feelings about the schemes. She agrees that at least two guarantees-free electricity and bus travel-have been fulfilled and she is now registered for the Gruha Lakshmi scheme. But the Anna Bhagya or free rice scheme has left her confused. “I thought we would…

Rs 3,400-cr plan for lakes In his 77th Independence Day speech at the Field Marshal Manekshaw Parade Ground, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah promised a Rs 3,400-crore action plan to preserve and revive lakes and invest Rs 1.4 lakh crore every year to achieve a 15 % to 16 % growth rate. He said that the plan to revive lakes and waterbodies is being drawn up to ensure that pure drinking water is supplied to urban areas. However, ecologists were sceptical. Ram Prasad from Friends of Lakes said that it is only an announcement, just like those of earlier governments. He suggested…

Deputy chief minister, DK Shivakumar, has shown serious intent to tackle the city’s various issues. The Brand Bengaluru campaign and appointing committees to study and make recommendations are in the right direction. However, the unilateral announcement of the Tunnel Road Project, which bypasses institutional city planning mechanisms, needs to be examined and criticised. The project aims to ease traffic congestion at an estimated cost of Rs 50,000 crore, but how scientific and data-driven is the decision-making process behind it? The importance of due process If the Tunnel Road Project does not take into consideration the points mentioned below, then its…

Bengaluru generates around 4,500 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste per day. To regulate this, the Solid Waste Management(SWM) rules, 2016 and the SWM bye-laws were passed, which notifies the best practices of waste management in a sustainable manner. The SWM rules, 2016, are an outcome of several Public Interest litigations (WP 24739/2012 & WP 46523/2012) filed before the Karnataka High Court in 2012, where a range  of directions were issued that ordered the BBMP to stop landfilling, incineration waste as well as ensure source segregation. However, the implementation of these orders is tardy to date. An unscientific landfill continues…

In parts one and two of this series, we looked at the condition of the 30 dhobi ghats in the city and why there isn't a single functioning water recycling plant to solve the issue of water scarcity. In this third and final part, we will look at how the rise of laundry brands are becoming a severe threat to traditional dhobi ghats and the dhobis' livelihood. With the majority of dhobi ghats relying heavily on manual washing and minimum use of technology, the emergence of laundry brands, which use and advertise technological tools to entice more customers, is posing…